“I arrived in England at the age of 12, fluent in Urdu, Arabic and English, all three were my first languages. I wrote a diary every day. The entries, I discovered much later in life were poems and stories.”
Anjum Malik uses fact to fiction, food, real stories of hard to reach people, as well as pure creativity to inspire her writing.
Why it is important to let black writers write what they want
Anjum Malik tells us why writing in Urdu is important to her and how she reveals secrets, hidden in the Asian community, through her writing.
Why I write
For the first time Anjum Malik ruminates on the reasons why she has always written.
Anjum Malik in conversation with Trish Cooke
Anjum Malik talks to Trish Cooke about writing in two languages, her thoughts about the place of translation in poetry and the discipline of being a professional script-writer.
Biography
Anjum Malik is a lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written several original plays for BBC, ITV and theatres in the UK and for established soap operas. She tutors for leading literary organisations in the UK.
She uses fact to fiction, food, real stories of hard to reach people, as well as pure creativity to inspire her writing. Over 80 of her scripts have been produced.
Her previous jobs include being a police officer, interpreter, sales person, business owner and classical Indian Kathak dancer. She was born in Saudi Arabia of Pakistani heritage, and has lived in Pakistan as well several cities in the UK. Anjum is multi-lingual and currently based in Manchester.
